Manhattan

A McDonald’s customer tried to eat his way out of trouble when he swallowed money he had stolen from a man in the Murray Hill eatery, authorities said yesterday.

The trouble began at 12:48 p.m. Thursday in the restaurant on Third Avenue at East 33rd Street, where Edward Grace, 33, allegedly struck his 38-year- old victim in the head and face while swiping his cash.

Grace also allegedly broke the victim’s left hand.

When police arrived, Grace ripped up and ate some of the cash to get rid of the evidence, sources said.

He was charged with robbery and tampering with physical evidence.

The victim’s injuries were considered not life-threatening.

*

A knife-wielding assailant stabbed a man after inviting him to his TriBeCa apartment, police sources said yesterday.

Andre Greaves, 46, argued with the 27-year- old victim in Greaves’ apartment on Greenwich Street near Chambers Street at 1 p.m. Thursday, sources said.

Greaves then grabbed a knife and stabbed the victim in the head, causing injuries that were not life-threatening, cops said.

Police were called, and Greaves was arrested on assault charges. It was unclear what sparked the argument or what, if any, relationship the men had.

*

A security guard grabbed a thief who had swiped a jacket and a pair of pants in the Madison Avenue Barneys, police sources said yesterday.

The guard caught Colin Bartley, 42, swiping the items at 11:30 a.m. last Wednesday, sources said.

Bartley was charged with burglary and possession of stolen property.

*

Police yesterday released a photo of a bandit who robbed a Midtown bank.

The suspect, a man in his 40s, walked inside the Wachovia branch at Broadway and West 56th Street at around 11:45 a.m. on Dec. 15.

He verbally demanded cash from a bank employee, received an unspecified amount and fled on foot.

The Bronx

Two men were stabbed – one fatally – early yesterday when an argument turned violent at an East Tremont house party, police said.

The victims, ages 19 and 26, clashed for unknown reasons with an unidentified suspect in the residence on Southern Boulevard near Garden Street at around 2:10 a.m., cops said.

The assailant stabbed the older man in the stomach and the youth in the chest.

Both victims were rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, where the 26-year-old, Frank Banks of Manhattan, later died.

The other victim was in stable condition. The killer fled.

Queens

A teenager was found fatally shot behind a Far Rockaway apartment building, police said yesterday.

Cops responded at about 11:20 p.m. Saturday to the back of the building on Hassock Street near Beach Channel Drive, where they discovered Neville Ward, 18, with a head wound, police said.

Ward was rushed to Jamaica Hospital, where he died, authorities said.

Detectives have not established a motive and are searching for a suspect.

*

A Long Island man told cops he was having a bad day after he was busted for threatening people with a chainsaw on an Elmhurst street, authorities said yesterday.

Charles Menninger, 42, of Oyster Bay was trying to start up the chainsaw as a woman was screaming and people were running away from him on Broadway near Roosevelt Avenue at about 3:05 a.m. New Year’s Day, sources said.

Police saw the chaos and ordered Menninger to drop the weapon, which he did.

He was charged with menacing and weapon possession.